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Capitol Hill Update, 11 November, 2013

House & Senate – Schedule: THe House and Senate are both back in town as of this Tuesday, and both are expected to stay in session until Thanksgiving week. The Senate may recess for two weeks, starting Thanksgiving week, depending upon whether it is able to finish the agenda that Senator Reid puts forth.

Legislative Highlight of the Week: The House will vote this week on the “Keep Your Health Plan Act”, H.R. 3350. Introduced by Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Rep. Fred Upton, this bill seeks to stop the massive loss of insurance plans being caused by ObamaCare, allowing those who have not had their plans cancelled to actually keep them if they like them. The bill would also allow insurance companies to continue selling any plans that were on the market as of 2013 through 2014. FreedomWorks supports this legislation – you can find our letter of support HERE.

Senate – ObamaCare: Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) has a very similar bill to that of Chairman Upton in the House, called the “If You Like Your Health Plan, You Can Keep It Act”, S. 1617. Senator Johnson is hoping to secure a vote for his bill in the Senate as well, and FreedomWorks supports his efforts. FreedomWorks also supports Johnson's bill, and our letter can be found HERE.

House & Senate – ObamaCare Exemption: FreedomWorks activist have been reporting emails from their Representatives and Senators in Congress, claiming that Congress is not receiving special treatment under ObamaCare. The reality is that Members of Congress and their staff are eligible to receive subsidies through the ObamaCare exchanges which are much higher than those which ordinary citizens can receive. So regardless of what your Members might claim, they are, in fact, getting special treatment under ObamaCare.

House – ObamaCare Exchanges: The full House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will hold a hearing at 9:30 AM on Wednesday, November 13th, on the rollout of HealthCare.gov. Presumably questions will be asked regarding the Administration’s claims that the exchange websites would be working as scheduled, in spite of evidence that it was known well in advance that there would be major difficulties.

House – Lawsuit Reform: The House will also vote on H.R. 2655, the “Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act”. Introduced by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), this bill attempts to discourage costly, frivolous suits by requiring that plaintiffs pay legal costs of a defendant if the suit is determined to have been frivolous.

House & Senate – Farm Bill: The latest news from the Farm Bill conference between the House and Senate is not encouraging - both chambers can agree to only token cuts and reforms to food stamp programs, and none at all to crop insurance or the other corporate welfare under the agricultural half of the Farm Bill. The committee could finish its debate any time between now the end of the year, but at the moment the most likely results seem to be not acceptable.

Senate – Nominations: This Thursday, November 14th, at 10 AM, the Senate will hold a hearing on the nomination of Janet Yellen to Chair the Federal Reserve. Senator Rand Paul has indicated that he may continue a hold on Yellen’s nomination until he is allowed to have a vote on his legislation to fully audit the Fed, S. 209. Legislation to Audit the Fed passed the House with a strong bipartisan majority last year.

During a town hall event on June 11, 2009 in Green Bay, Wisconsin, President Barack Obama made an unequivocal promise concerning the health insurance reform proposal then working its way through Congress. "If you like your doctor, you'll be able to keep your doctor," he said, "if you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan."

The premiums for lowest cost silver plans available on the federal ObamaCare exchange have jumped by 10 percent, according to an analysis conducted by Avalere Health, a consulting firm that generally advocates for the law.

The least popular feature of ObamaCare is about to become a whole lot less fun. As we head into 2015, the individual mandate dictating that all individuals purchase health insurance or else is ramping up with increased penalties.

In September, the Obama administration boasted that some 7.3 million Americans had enrolled in ObamaCare health plans. Though down from the initial 8.1 million reported in May, due to attrition by consumers not making premium pay or data inconsistencies, the number still exceeded the Congressional Budget Office's 7 million estimate for the first open enrollment period for plans taking effect in 2014.

The spin from President Barack Obama and his endless army of apologetic sycophants is that Jonathan Gruber never worked in the White House or the administration. He was, as the president and a White House spokesperson claimed, merely "some adviser" who didn't "play the same role in developing the Affordable Care Act" as staffer.

You know what they say you should do when you’re stuck in a hole: stop digging. This is advice that could well have been heeded by ObamaCare Architect Jonathan Gruber, whose repeated comments about the stupidity of the American public and the need to deceive them in order to pass ObamaCare continue to make headlines, though not the good kind like you want.

President Barack Obama sought to further distance the White House from Jonathan Gruber, the MIT professor who helped craft ObamaCare. Current and former White House and administration officials as well as Democratic leaders in Congress have tried downplay Gruber's role in light of at least six videos that have surfaced in the last several days.

The White House is trying to downplay yet another ObamaCare scandal by calling Jonathan Gruber, the architect of the law, a liar. In a statement provided to a leftist blog, a White House spokesperson disputed the MIT economist's October 2013 comment that the designed lack of transparency in ObamaCare was "a huge political advantage" to ram it through Congress.

Another video has surfaced in which Jonathan Gruber insults voters. This time, however, the MIT economist and ObamaCare architect refrained from calling Americans "stupid," though there isn't much of a difference from what he said in previous comments (covered here and here).

Jonathan Gruber, the MIT economist who helped the Obama administration craft ObamaCare, is trying to downplay his comments at a October 2013 panel discussion, during which he bragged about the designed "lack of transparency" in the Affordable Care Act and the "stupidity of the American voter."